Key Takeaways
- Nothing is simplifying its earbud lineup with the introduction of the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear A models, moving away from numerical names.
- The Nothing Ear offers upgraded features such as better noise cancelation, longer battery life, improved codec support, and integration with ChatGPT AI assistant.
- The budget-friendly Nothing Ear A earbuds come with ANC, 5.5 hours of battery life, unique design, and support for LDAC codec.
While Nothing is quite focused on smartphones nowadays, the company began as a smartphone accessory brand, initially launching one of our favorite earbuds of all time, the Nothing Ear (1) earbuds. It followed up with the Nothing Ear (2) and the more affordable Nothing Ear Stick last year. However, the company is currently shifting away from this strategy. The company is changing its audio product naming scheme and has announced two new audio products: Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear A.
As you can see, the company has abandoned its numerical naming scheme in favor of simpler names, so you feel less pressured to upgrade every time new earbuds are announced. Now, you can simply purchase the latest ‘Nothing Ear’ earbuds whenever you choose to upgrade. But what do these new earbuds offer? Let’s take a look.
Nothing Ear
Nothing Ear are the company’s high-end earbuds for 2024. These earbuds retain a similar design to the Nothing Ear (2) including the case’s design and IP54 rating for dust and water resistance. The earbuds come with a ceramic diaphragm and a dual-chamber design for better sound flow. While the the audio driver is slightly smaller at 11.6mm compared to the 11mm in the Ear (2), these earbuds do pack a bunch of meaningful upgrades over the predecessors.
Firstly, Nothing claims that the noise cancelation is better on the new earbuds, increasing from 40dB in the Nothing Ear (2) to 45dB. Battery life has also improved: the new Nothing Ear lasts up to 5.2 hours with ANC on, which is 1.2 hours more than its predecessor. Additionally, the charging case has a larger battery, providing longer battery support for the earbuds.
There is now support for more codecs as well, including LDAC and LHDC — meaning you’ll be able to enjoy high-quality audio on more phones. There’s also a special upgrade over the previous generation, which we’ll discuss later. Priced at $149 / €149 / £129, the same as the previous model, these earbuds are available in both Black and White colors.
Nothing Ear A
The Nothing Ear A are the company’s new budget earbuds for 2024. These earbuds, unlike the Nothing Ear Stick, feature an in-ear design like the premium sibling. These also come with a newly designed charging case that is more rectangular compared to the square-like case of the other models. Additionally, the Nothing Ear A come in a new yellow colorway, alongside the standard black and white.
Feature-wise, these earbuds support ANC with the same 45dB as the premium model and provide up to 5.5 hours of battery life with ANC turned on. They are equipped with 11mm audio drivers, a triple-mic setup for effective noise cancelation and codec support includes LDAC (but not LHDC). Unlike the new Nothing Ear, which uses a ceramic diaphragm, the Ear A features PMI + TPU diaphragm. The Nothing Ear A is priced at $99 / €99 / £99.
So What’s Special?
So, what’s so special about these earbuds? Well, Nothing has partnered with ChatGPT to integrate the popular Gen AI assistant service directly into the earbuds. Once set up, you will be able to ‘pinch’ the earbuds — like you’d normally do for track change, play/pause, and answering phone calls — and start conversing with ChatGPT. This feature allows you to ask questions or interact with ChatGPT just by using your voice, directly through the earbuds. This integration will also be available on all Nothing and CMF audio products beginning in June 2024.
Additionally, Nothing is also integrating ChatGPT into its Nothing OS. The company has created unique new Text, Voice, and Vision widgets for Nothing OS, which are different than what’s available for all Android users. The OS update also includes a ‘Clipboard to ChatGPT’ shortcut for text selection and a ‘Screenshot to ChatGPT’ shortcut for directly pasting screenshots into a ChatGPT conversation for more information. Nothing OS 2.5.5 with these ChatGPT features is rolling out to the Nothing Phone 2 today and will be available on the Nothing Phone 1 and the Nothing Phone 2a later this month.
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Nothing Ear
The Nothing Ear boasts upgrades like customizable settings, improved noise cancelation, better battery life, and support for Hi-Res audio with LDAC and LHDC. There’s also IP54 dust and water resistance and pack Bluetooth 5.3 for best performance.
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Nothing Ear (a)
Nothing Ear A are the company’s affordable earbuds for 2024, and they offer a lot more compared to the company’s Nothing Ear Stick. It comes with the same in-ear design as the pricier sibling, a new case design, ANC support, and an additional color (yellow).
